Monday, January 23, 2012

Sometimes you run...


"Sometimes you run, sometimes you stall
Sometimes you don't get up at all
Sometimes you run, sometimes you fall"
-Robert Earl Keen


Last night, I was fortunate enough to snag an extra ticket from a Facebook friend to go see REK locally. One of my favorite songs he wrote "The Rose Hotel" he performed at the concert. The reason for this being such a great song is the chorus quoted above. As I go further and further down this path of running, I find these lyrics to hit me right where I need it.

Whoever said running is easy, never ran more than a 10k. As I struggle to get in my longer distances I realize that a lot more goes into this than lacing up my shoes. First is the nutrition that I will talk about in another post. Next is the time in which it takes to get those long runs in. Finally it is the stumbling that occurs in running. No, not falling all over the place and tripping, but the stumbling in pace and distance.

Some days I run a perfect pace, the run feels amazing and my feet feel light. These are less than the norm sadly. Instead, I end up stumbling quite frequently. First there was the run that I wore my running skirt inside out for. Yep, imagine that scene. There was the run that I spent more time trying to find a bathroom than actually running. The one last week that made me feel like my hip was going to explode. All these runs are the stumbling in life that would easily cause me to permanently hang up my shoes and be done with this lifestyle, but something always draws me back.

This week the picking me up off the ground feeling was standing in the middle of the wine expo realizing that I may have not done my 14 miles as planned, but I just did 10 miles more than almost everyone in the room. I was slow, but I did them. The other moment was the feeling of fast feet coming down Beacon Street through my old hood. This is the place that I was at my unhealthiest in exercising and nutrition. Beer dinner anyone? I instead was getting it done. The feeling of how much fun the track workout was despite being slowest also got me off the floor. And finally, seeing that I had reached my halfway point fundraising was amazing. 

So yes, there will be times I stumble and times I can't even get up, but I just have to remember the amazing feeling it is when at the end of the road I look back on the journey and realize I've gained my best memories from the starting up again after the stall, tumble or fall.

1 comment:

  1. Well said! I think you are doing fantastic - you are motivating me to keep going despite all the stalling, stumbling and falling. Hang in there!

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